Respect Where You Came From (Remix)

Lyrics

[Title Announcement]

[apartment hallway ambience, keys hitting a table, distant family voices, vinyl crackle, chopped soul vocals over a dusty piano loop]

[Street Announcer — Deep Male Voice]
Ten Commandments: Brooklyn Boom-Bap Trap Edition.

Commandment number five:

“Honour thy father and thy mother.”

Track five—

“Respect Where You Came From.”

[DJ Scratch]
Respect—respect—respect where you came from!

[Beat Drop]
[grimy Brooklyn boom-bap drums, hard snare cracks, chopped soul choir, low bass guitar layered with restrained 808, warm piano, sharp turntable cuts]

[Intro — Crew Chant]

[Announcer]
Who raised you?

[Crew]
Respect them!

[Announcer]
Who corrected you?

[Crew]
Respect them!

[Announcer]
Who stood there when you fell?

[Crew]
Respect the house!

[Verse 1 — Male Rap]
You got manners for the boss, smiles for the street,
But come home with an attitude and mud on your feet.
Talking slick to your father like the rules do not count,
Then need him at midnight when your plans bottom out.

You call correction control when they question your crew,
Like the people outside care more about you.
Your father saw danger before it got close,
You called him old-school till the same friend got exposed.

You say, “I’m grown now, I can do what I choose,”
But grown means you carry the weight of what you do.
You can disagree without disrespect in your tone,
But do not act like wisdom never lived in your home.

[Hook — Crew and Chopped Choir]
Respect where you came from!
Watch how you speak in the house!

Respect where you came from!
Do not let your pride run your mouth!

Respect where you came from!
Honor carries promise and life!

Father and mother—
Give them the honor that’s right!

[DJ Scratch]
Honor—honor—honor thy father and mother!

[Verse 2 — Female Rap]
She said her mother do too much, always asking where she been,
Always checking every story, always questioning her friends.
She slammed the door hard, said, “You never let me breathe,”
Her mother said, “I know what smiling enemies can be.”

“You think I like these arguments? I’m trying to keep you whole.
I would rather hear you complain than watch the streets take control.
You do not have to like it, but the rule will still stand.
While you live under this roof, you will follow this command.”

Then the room got quiet when the scripture got read:
“Honour thy father and thy mother,” that is what the Father said.
No debate, no loophole, no “everybody else can”—
Your feelings do not cancel what was written as command.

[Hook — Crew and Choir]
Respect where you came from!
Watch how you speak in the house!

Respect where you came from!
Do not let your pride run your mouth!

Respect where you came from!
Honor carries promise and life!

Father and mother—
Give them the honor that’s right!

[Breakdown — Street Sermon]
[drums cut, low upright bass hums, apartment sounds fade, warm organ chord sustains beneath vinyl crackle]

[Announcer]
Exodus chapter twenty, verse twelve:

[Spoken Choir]
“Honour thy father and thy mother:
that thy days may be long
upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

[Announcer]
Honor does not mean parents never make mistakes.

It means you do not answer care with contempt.

It means you do not curse the people
who kept showing up for you.

It means respect while they are living—
not speeches when they are gone.

[Verse 3 — Male and Female Trade-Off]

[Male]
They warned you about that friend—

[Female]
You said they were judging.

[Male]
They told you come straight home—

[Female]
You kept sneaking and running.

[Male]
They asked you for the truth—

[Female]
You gave attitude instead.

[Male]
Then the same people you defended—

[Female]
Left you hanging in the end.

[Male]
Honor is not weakness.

[Female]
Correction is not hate.

[Male]
Wisdom sounds restrictive—

[Female]
When rebellion wants the gate.

[Both]
Respect the ones who raised you.
Do not wait until too late.
There is promise in the commandment—
Honor changes what awaits.

[Final Hook — Full Crew]
Respect where you came from!
Do not act brand-new in the house!

Respect where you came from!
Put some discipline over your mouth!

Respect where you came from!
Long life is tied to the right!

Father and mother—
Give them their honor tonight!

[Commandment Chant]

[Announcer]
Honor your father!

[Crew]
Respect him!

[Announcer]
Honor your mother!

[Crew]
Respect her!

[Announcer]
Watch your tone!

[Crew]
Keep it right!

[All]
Honor brings promise and lengthens life!

[Outro — DJ Transition]
[boom-bap drums filter down, family voices blur into reverb, piano loop slows, subway rumble rises beneath a chopped choir phrase]

[DJ Scratch]
Respect—respect—where you came from!

[Announcer]
Commandment number five:

Honor your father and your mother.

Track five complete.

Coming next—

Commandment number six:

“One Trigger, Two Funerals.”